source https://realestate.boston.com/home-improvement/2019/06/06/the-dangers-cost-mold-removal/

JOLIET, IL — A Joliet firm has filed a lawsuit against the owners of a multi-tenant apartment building on Joliet’s west side, alleging that the building contained hazardous levels of mold that contributed to the July 8, 2017 death of 14-year-old Camron Tate. The lawsuit plaintiff is his mother, Shanta Tate.

The litigation defendants are Daniel and Diana Coffey, who operate Steel City Properties, according to court records at the Will County Courthouse.

In January 2017, Shanta Tate signed a lease to move her family into the apartment building at 22 South Hunter Avenue, the lawsuit states.

Then, sometime prior to July 3, 2017, Shanta Tate complained to her landlords «about the presence of what appeared to be mold on the ceiling in the bathroom and that the bathroom ventilation fan did not work,» states the lawsuit filed by attorneys Philip Davidson and Gregory Leiter of Joliet.

In response, the owners sent someone to Tate’s apartment and that person «painted the bathroom ceiling and fixed the fan. On or about July 3, 2017 … Camron Tate was in the bathroom of said unit and collapsed shortly thereafter,» the lawsuit states.

Camron’s mother called for an ambulance. Five days later, on July 8, 2017, «Camron Tate passed away due to an exacerbation of his asthma leading to severe respiratory distress, anoxic brain injury and cardiac arrest,» court documents outline.

His obituary notice at the Minor-Morris Funeral Home indicated that «At birth, he was born with severe asthma and was not able to enjoy outside playtime with his friends.»

Five weeks after Camron died, on Aug. 16, 2017, «mold testing was performed of the unit that revealed the presence of elevated levels of hazardous mold, of widespread concern, with visual growth observed, significant water damage to the exterior living room wall and elevated humidity/moisture in the lawsuit,» the plaintiff’s lawyers stated. «At all relevant times, defendant Steel City Properties … should have known that said building and or unit contained high levels of mold representing a health hazard.»

Because of the negligence of Steel City Properties, the lawsuit contends, «Camron Tate came to his death on or about July 8, 2017. The plaintiff’s decedent left surviving him: Shanta Tate, his mother; Alacia Walker, his minor sister; Alijah Spell, his minor brother; Miaja Stallings, his minor sister; Mikayla Stallings, Javin Travis, his minor brother; Mar’Quise Stallings, his minor brother; Malaya Stallings, his minor sister; Kyrie Stallings, his minor sister; and Khaleesi Stallings, his minor sister, the plaintiff’s lawyers informed the court.

«The survivors … sustained pecuniary loss, including loss of society as a result of the death of Camron Tate,» the plaintiff’s Joliet law firm argues.

Their lawsuit asks Will County’s judicial system to award Shanta Tate, a «sum in excess of $50,000 that the trier of facts finds to be fair and adequate compensation.»

So far, lawyers for the defendants have not filed their response to the negligence lawsuit now on file at the Will County Courthouse.

source https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/mold-hunter-ave-building-led-asthma-death-lawsuit

By Eva Hofmann

When it comes to fire or water damage, time is of the essence. The experts at Restoration Associates, 2601 S. Archer Ave., have the know-how and equipment to mitigate your disaster faster.

A licensed general contractor specializing in the restoration, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of structures, Restoration Associates manages projects from beginning to end, including mitigation and cleanup, emergency electric, plumbing, and other duties that must be performed to comply with insurance policy requirements. “It’s one-stop shopping with us,” said Tom Nesbitt, vice president and founding partner of Restoration Associates.

Nesbitt started doing fire repair 39 years ago.  He added water restoration to his services about 14 years ago. “It was getting big in the industry,” he said. “There’s a certain science to drying down buildings after a water loss.”

Restoration Associates is a family business. His daughter, Jane Nesbitt, serves as comptroller and office manager.  “She’s been working with me for 20 years,” said Nesbitt.

About four years ago, Nesbitt assembled a powerhouse team of industry veterans with more than 120 years of combined experience in the business of fire and flood restoration. “We have insurance adjusters and claims managers who understand coverage and can sort through the issues,” he said. “We have the latest equipment using industry technology, and our technicians carry the needed certifications.”

No matter what the cause, whether from fire, water, vehicular impact, a falling tree, or other disasters, Restoration Associates can help restore your property to its pre-loss condition.

Fire

Once a fire occurs, the onus is on the home or business owner to do everything possible to prevent further damage. Typically, this begins with boarding up broken windows and unsecured doors, followed by roof tarps to secure the building from weather and further damage. Next comes cleanup of broken glass, nails, and debris. During cold weather, the owner might need to drain and winterize the water system to keep pipes from freezing, and if power is compromised, an electrician must fix it. If the heating system is not damaged, workers can service it or install a temporary heating system to help dry out the structure. These services are covered and paid for by the insurance company.

The next step is to bring in drying equipment to prevent further damage. Restoration Associates even meets with the insurance adjuster to determine what other emergency measures the structure needs and to determine the “scope of loss,” which presents a complete list showing details, quantities, and unit costs for everything damaged by the fire. Technicians receive certification by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification to perform these services to exacting protocols.

Once the insurer reaches an agreement on the scope of damage, Restoration Associates consults with the insured on how to repair the building, either to its pre-loss condition or, in many cases, to make changes or upgrades that can be worked out with the insurance company.

Water

No matter what the cause, water damage can be devastating and spread quickly.

“A flood can happen when a toilet overflows or a washer backs up,” said Nesbitt. “The typical home has 39 possible points of water intrusion where water is connected to toilets, sinks, showers, etc. Any one of those areas can go bad.” 

In highrises, damage can spread to other floors. “We work in highrises every day,” said Nesbitt. “With all the people in a highrise, someone is going to have a leak, and multiple floors can be affected. It happens more than you think.”

When it comes to water, the mitigation process must begin as soon as possible to alleviate further damage and reduce the threat of mold. Restoration Associates removes any harmful substances, raw sewage, and other contaminants. They then immediately begin saving and restoring all salvageable personal contents.

Using state-of-the-art equipment such as moisture meters and thermal imaging cameras, the team then determines the scope of tasks to complete mitigation. “We have probing moisture meters and things like thermal cameras that can see through the wall for what you can’t see with the naked eye,” said Nesbitt.

Mitigation might include demolishing unsalvageable materials that cannot be dried. Simultaneously, workers install the latest drying equipment, including high-velocity air movers, low-grain refrigerant dehumidifiers, and hardwood floor drying rescue mats. Restoration Associates also cleans and sanitizes all surfaces in the affected areas with heavy-duty cleaning agents as well as antimicrobials to disinfect and prevent mold growth.

During the polar vortex this past winter, Restoration Associates came to the rescue when a Gold Coast landmark hotel suffered a flood. “With the cold weather, they had a pipe burst in the middle of the night, and 15,000 square feet in the banquet rooms and restaurant had an inch of water covering the new carpeting they had just installed two weeks prior,” said Nesbitt.

Technicians were on the scene within 30 minutes of the first call to assess the situation. Within 90 minutes, a 16-member crew was working to mitigate the damage. “We set up over 200 pieces of drying equipment, including high-
velocity air movers and commercial dehumidifiers,” said Nesbitt.  “Our immediate response saved the carpeting.”

Mold

Mold is an inevitable result of water damage. Thousands of different types of mold exist, from mildly harmful to deadly. Mold sometimes can be difficult to detect.

Recently, Nesbitt and his crew performed emergency mold mitigation in a local highrise. “They took down wallpaper on 25 floors and discovered mold behind it,” he said. “Everyone is worried about mold,” he said. “Time is of the essence in these situations, and immediate response is critical.”

Never a dull moment

In addition to fire and water emergencies, Restoration Associates has plenty of other predicaments to deal with. The company also handles crime scene and biohazard cleanups as well as vehicular impacts and damage from trees falling on structures.

“We were busy during the polar vortex, but there’s really no slow season,” said Nesbitt. “We sometimes have 60 people working on large projects. All emergency calls come to me—I kind of sleep with my phone.”

Restoration Associates is an approved vendor for numerous insurance companies, management companies, and condo homeowner associations. “We’re located in Bridgeport, which gives us immediate response to the highrises downtown,” said Nesbitt.  “But we go anywhere for a large loss—we’re doing consulting in Mississippi right now.”

No matter what the cause, or where you’re located, Restoration Associates can help restore your property to its pre-loss condition. For more information, call (312) 225-3300, go to http://bit.ly/2I2btfK.

source http://www.gazettechicago.com/index/2019/06/restoration-associates-can-help-after-fire-flooding-or-other-emergencies/

PANAMA CITY — The many homes still damaged by Hurricane Michael could make Bay County more vulnerable to mold and its accompanying health hazards this storm season.

Another hurricane season started last week, bringing with it the threat of heavy wind and rain to homes still draped in blue tarps or with makeshift repairs. Some physicians and mitigation experts say Michael created significant mold and health problems for residents. And with many homes still damaged, even a small tropical storm could cause even greater mold problems, they say.

“There’s still tons of homes that have still not been repaired, that still just have tarps, so even if we get a touch of a hurricane, it’ll rip down tarps and cause mold to grow,” said James Giles, owner of Preferred Environmental Solutions in Panama City.

Giles noted that it doesn’t take much damage or time for unhealthy mold growth.

“Mold can germinate when there’s just 50% humidity in a home,” he said. “And mold can grow within 28 to 48 hours.”

Giles said Michael caused plenty of mold in homes across the county and the problem hasn’t really ended nearly eight months later, meaning even greater issues should another hurricane hit.

“We’re still getting business from it,” Giles said of Michael. “The problem is lots of clients are still getting their insurance to deal with the mold.”

And while many homeowners dealt with mold in their homes after Michael, Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center dealt with the health problems caused by it.

“We definitely did see an increase in respiratory infections,” said Dr. William Carlson, associate director of the emergency room at Gulf Coast Regional. “It was getting nasty, people were getting sick in a hurry.”

Carlson said patients of all ages were coming to the hospital with respiratory issues related to mold and other gunk blown into the air by the hurricane — some with even life-threatening symptoms.

“A lot required ventilator support,” Carlson said.

A recent federal report shows mold and the health hazard it created after Michael was hardly isolated to the Category 5 hurricane.

According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on Hurricane Harvey in 2017, mold infection from hurricane cleanup can have a 50% mortality rate among people with immune system deficiencies. The report also discovered, from surveying more than 100 people with immune system deficiencies, that many exposed themselves to mold needlessly.

“Although federal agencies recommend that immunosuppressed persons avoid flooded and mold-contaminated buildings, approximately half of survey participants engaged in cleanup activities, with approximately half of those who engaged in heavy cleanup and most of those engaged in light cleanup reporting not wearing respiratory protection,” the report states.

Carlson suggested anyone trying to clean mold at their home wear a mask.

“And wash your hands as much as you can,” Carlson said.

Giles said he wouldn’t recommend homeowners try cleaning up mold themselves if it’s present in an area larger than 10 square feet, due to the difficulty and health hazards involved.

“If it’s over that line, you should hire a licensed contractor to clean it up,” he said.

source https://www.newsherald.com/news/20190531/new-hurricane-season-could-create-more-unhealthy-mold

source http://realestate.boston.com/home-improvement/2019/06/06/the-dangers-cost-mold-removal/?s_campaign=bdc:hp:well:realestate

A national criminal justice reform group wants a federal investigation into Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
In a letter to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division recently, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) cited evidence of what they called unsafe conditions, including violence and the presence of weapons, as well as understaffing at the state’s second-largest prison. These claims were based on letters and photographs prisoners sent the organization.
Kelvin Sanders, a former inmate at Parchman Prison in Sunflower County, said this photo shows men sleeping on the floor of the prison to avoid water dripping down on their beds.
“We’ve heard about Parchman over the years,” FAMM President Kevin Ring said in an interview. “But it’s only been in the last few weeks that we started to get more clips, videos and messages from people inside.
“To see inside a cell, the water damage, the black mold, the flooding — it just seems like there’s something going on here,” Ring said.
Ring compared the conditions of the Sunflower County facility, which houses more than 3,000 prisoners from across the state, to those of Alabama prisons deemed unconstitutional in a DOJ report last month.
FAMM also decried the effect of frequent lockdowns, in which many routine prison functions such as commissary and in-person visits are cancelled, on prisoners’ family members.
The Mississippi Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The call for action follows a sudden influx of photographs and videos purportedly leaked from Parchman and South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville that circulated across social media in the last week.
Prisoners’ rights advocates say pictures recently leaked that purport to show conditions at Mississippi State Penitentiary and South Mississippi Correctional Institution (SMCI) only confirm accounts they have heard from prisoners.
Those images depict showers with peeling walls and stained floors; sparse food trays; emaciated men slumped over their bunks and lying on mattresses on the floor.
Two separate people, who identified themselves as a former prisoner and the fiancee of a current inmate, came forward as the sources of the photographs and videos, which were first posted to a Facebook group advocating for prison reform earlier this month.
Many of the photographs depict Parchman, according to a man named Kelvin Sanders, who posted dozens of photos on Facebook. He also shared videos depicting two men fighting among bunks with Mississippi Today.
The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) could substantiate neither the photos nor the video, according to a spokesperson.
“It’s hard to forget,” said Sanders of his time at Parchman. He provided a photograph of an MDOC inmate identification card issued in 2017 bearing his name. Sanders managed to hold onto a memory card containing the photos he took with a contraband cell phone from 2016 through the completion his sentence in January of this year, he said.
Sanders said in an interview that after he posted the photos online, he received a call from an unlisted number. The caller identified themselves as an MDOC employee and threatened Sanders with retaliation, though Sanders said he was not afraid because he completed his sentence in January and is not under community supervision. He has since moved out of Mississippi.
An agency spokesperson confirmed that a man by Sanders’s name was in MDOC custody, including at Parchman, on and off between March 1997 and January 2019, but could not verify Sanders’s allegation about any threats made.
Lakeshia Payton, whose fiance is currently at SMCI, also made public several photos and video which she said depicted South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Greene County this month. Payton said she cried upon receiving the media from someone else at the facility.
The images, which Payton also provided to Mississippi Today, include videos that pan over a shower and show what appears to be mold on the walls.
“I couldn’t even look at that,” she said of the videos. “I had those videos for months.” Fed up with a months-long lockdown at SMCI, she finally put them online, Payton said.
The photos and video were publicized by Carol Leonard, a Tennessee-based advocate for prisoners and their families, through her social media channels.
“The guys take a huge risk in leaking this stuff,” Leonard said in an interview.
Penalties for possessing a cell phone or other contraband in a correctional facility are stiff. A conviction can lead to a prison sentence of three to 15 years and a fine of up to $25,000.

For advocates such as Leonard, the photographs and video confirm the living and social conditions many on the outside have long heard about, from black mold in dirty showers to a lack of programming available for prisoners.
Earlier this year, more than 2,000 photos depicting scenes of violence and gore in Alabama’s St. Clair Correctional Facility, one of the prisons cited in the DOJ report, were leaked to news media.
Mississippi itself is currently battling a lawsuit over conditions inside the privately run East Mississippi Correctional Facility near Meridian.

mississippitoday.org

source https://www.northsidesun.com/front-page-slideshow-news-breaking-news/leaked-photos-prison-conditions-prompt-call-prison

source https://www.businessinsider.com/buying-an-rv-tips-advice-what-to-look-out-for-2019-6

In early March, a private preschool in California that served almost 100 students announced it was closing its doors for mold removal after recent heavy rains and the discovery of mold from indoor air quality (IAQ) samples according to The Press Democrat. A little over a week later, the paper published a report that the school is being closed permanently.

source https://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=241822

The residents include families with young children and the elderly, said Christian Activities Council executive director Cori Mackey. The Hartford nonprofit has been helping residents of Barbour Gardens wage a campaign against their property owner, ADAR Hartford Realty LLC, and other negligent landlords throughout the city.

source https://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-br-hartford-emergency-relocation-barbour-gardens-20190606-mtc3ccipojcqlj7wjtp2ievbbe-story.html

The Washington County SPCA is still displaced by the flooding that forced them to evacuate their shelter.

Their shelter, which sits along Highway 123 between Bartlesville and Dewey, caused the WCSPCA to move their animals and supplies as fast as they could on Tuesday, May 21st (pictured).

Shelter Manager Tonya Pete said they are reluctant to pull the trigger on anything since more rains are expected to move into the area. She said they are being cautious, because they do not want to have to do something big now only to be forced out again by flood waters.

The WCSPCA is doing basic things like picking up trash in the meantime.  They are still staying in their Spay and Neuter Clinic in Bartlesville at this time.

Pete said they are doing the best they can with the situation.  The WCSPCA is grateful for the Humane Society of Tulsa and the Tulsa SPCA. Humane Society of Tulsa took in all of WCSPCA’s adoptable dogs.

The only dogs they WCSPCA is responsible for now is the «pound dogs.» Pete said they can hold them for four days so people can reclaim them. She said they are doing their due diligence to post the dogs on their Facebook page, Bartlesville Lost & Found and Bartlesville Classified so owners can claim their dog(s).

As the dogs legally become theirs, and if they can not locate their owners soon, they will have to transfer the dogs out since they have limited space at the Clinic.

The Washington County SPCA, Pete said, is not even sure if they will move back to their shelter along Highway 123. She said they are waiting for a damage evaluation from Washington County Emergency Management before making an moves. Mold damage and supply damage is anticipated by the WCSPCA.

If you would like to provide relief to the WCSPCA, you can give monetarily. Pete said this is the best way to support them during this time. You can find them at their Clinic located at 3423 SE Washington Boulevard in Bartlesville.

source http://www.bartlesvilleradio.com/pages/news/202602019/washington-county-spca-may-not-return-to-shelter